Sure, the sun hasn鈥檛 exactly been shining in these parts, but the Victoria Royals will still need to make some hay in a pivotal stretch of inter-divisional games that continue this weekend in Kelowna and Kamloops.
Coming off two key victories over the sa国际传媒 Division-leading Prince George Cougars, the Royals now set their sights on the Kelowna Rockets tonight at 7, before a 5 p.m. matchup in Kamloops against the Blazers on New Year鈥檚 Eve on Saturday.
It鈥檚 all part of eight straight games against divisional rivals that continues back in Prince George next weekend and returns home to Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre for a pair against Kelowna on Jan. 11 and 13.
It鈥檚 a perfect time to play catch-up in the standings. Also in Victoria鈥檚 favour is the fact both the Rockets and Blazers will be missing key players to the world junior championship. The Rockets are without a trio of forwards in Dillon Dube (sa国际传媒), Calvin Thurkauf (Switzerland) and Tomas Soustal (Czech Republic).
鈥淟ook at these six games in a row, we鈥檝e got a streak where we have a lot of divisional games and they are critical,鈥� said Royals head coach Dave Lowry. 鈥淓veryone knows that if you win your games, you don鈥檛 have to rely on anyone else and that鈥檚 something we really want to focus on. We have to just focus on what we do and make sure we do it well.鈥�
They did it extremely well against the Cougars, who had lost just eight games prior to dropping both in Victoria this week.
鈥淲e put this [series] behind us and now we go into a couple of tough buildings against teams that are ahead of us. It鈥檚 a critical weekend for us,鈥� added Lowry.
The Royals are coming off an impressive 3-0 win Wednesday over the Cougars, in a playoff-like battle that featured four fights and 158 penalty minutes. It was also another sharp performance from netminder Griffen Outhouse, who blocked all 40 shots after stopping 42 of 43 the night previous in a 5-1 win over P.G.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what we need. We can鈥檛 win with average goaltending and the way he played [against P.G.] is the way we expect him to play, and if he does that he gives us a chance,鈥� said Lowry.
And with backup Dylan Myskiw currently nursing an injury, Outhouse will continue to be busy.
鈥淚t was a good confidence boost for this team and we鈥檙e looking to keep that going through our road trip,鈥� Outhouse said of the two P.G. wins in which he was extremely busy.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 care how many shots I have as long as I鈥檓 seeing them and our team isn鈥檛 giving up too many quality chances. I think that was probably my strongest [back-to-back performances] in this league,鈥� he said.
Outhouse looked fresh returning from the Christmas break with a first-star nod on Wednesday and a second-star placement on Tuesday, only because Tyler Soy had a four-point night.
鈥淚t was nice to have a little break and come back refreshed,鈥� said Outhouse. 鈥淥bviously, we have a lot of divisional games coming and these two, with Kamloops and Kelowna 鈥� we鈥檙e behind them a bit [in the standings], but this is about getting two points and taking away two points from them.鈥�
The Royals are four points back of Kamloops and six back of Kelowna, all having played 38 games.
鈥淥bviously, any time we face divisional rivals is big,鈥� said Royals defenceman Chaz Reddekopp, who had goals in both games against Prince George and one of the fights late in Wednesday鈥檚 game. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an important time for us and we just have to keep the momentum going.鈥�
